On Thursday CNN announced that the June 27 presidential debate will be one-on-one between Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump, excluding independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. from the stage as he did not meet the network’s polling and ballot access requirements.
“Presidents Biden and Trump do not want me on the debate stage and CNN illegally agreed to their demand,” RFK Jr. said in a Thursday campaign press release. “My exclusion by Presidents Biden and Trump from the debate is undemocratic, un-American, and cowardly.”
“Americans want an independent leader who will break apart the two-party duopoly,” Kennedy said. “They want a President who will heal the divide, restore the middle class, unwind the war machine, and end the chronic disease epidemic.”
RFK Jr., in order to qualify for next week’s debate, was required to meet a threshold of at least 15 percent in four separate national polls, as well as being on the ballot in enough states to collect the 270 electoral votes needed to win the presidential election.
Due to being an independent candidate, RFK Jr. has had an uphill battle gaining ballot access in all 50 states via petition, having to navigate each state’s ballot access criteria individually.
So far, RFK Jr. is officially on the ballot in nine states, though he has submitted signatures to appear on the ballot of several more states, and is in the process of gaining access to all 50 states and Washington, D.C.
Kennedy did not meet CNN’s polling criteria — in national averages, RFK Jr. is polling at about 10 percent, behind both Biden and Trump.
Last month, the Kennedy campaign filed an FEC complaint arguing that CNN, Biden and Trump violated a federal law that requires media broadcasters use objective and pre-determined criteria for candidate participation in debates.
Kennedy claimed CNN violated this law by not requiring Biden and Trump to meet the 260 electoral vote state ballot threshold due to them being the “presumptive nominees” of their respective parties — despite that term not being used in the FEC’s debate regulations.
“If the debate goes forward without Mr. Kennedy, the Kennedy campaign intends to pursue this issue for as long as it takes to obtain justice against these illegal acts, if for no other reason than to ensure this type of undemocratic and un-American conduct does not occur again in the future,” the RFK Jr. campaign said in a statement Thursday.
1960 presidential election….was Harry Byrd included in the debates?
(answer: no.)
RFK, Jr. Is right on the “death jabs” but wrong on basically everything else which includes the Second Amendment, the climate change hoax and his choice for VP. Shouldn’t be included in the debate.
Whole thing is rigged. But we already knew that.
Kennedy has arguments. He’s filed in the requisite states that will eventually clear, but the states haven’t cleared him, depriving him of 270 rule for being on ballot.
He also has a point: neither biden & trump are nominees of anything since there’s been no convention. In other words, they don’t have the 270 rule either.
But hey, rules, smules, or 2000 mules. as you wish.
I may never vote for him but if he wants to participate why not let him. He’s an American-let him speak. Why should some network clowns decide whether he can or not. The way the system is set up is to exclude anyone who might stray too far from the “accepted” points of view. The whole things a clown show and not worth wasting a minute on. Except for a handful of people in congress does it make any difference if there is an R or a D after their name? Collins is a good example. It appears that both parties are leading us on the road to hell the only difference being the speed at which they are taking us there
He is about as Independent as Bernie and Angus.
RFK, is not a real candidate, he’s a democrat, a whacky one at that, I’m glad he’s not going to be at the debate.
The only qualifications should be if you’re on enough State ballots to secure 270 Electoral Votes.